Page 180 - 2018 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
P. 180
8 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
Retrofitting some, but forbidding these magnificent structures would
have been a huge architectural loss—and an outrage.
A common phrase in the environmental industry is:
The greenest building is one that is already built. It can China has become well known for some of the
take 80 years to make up for the environmental impact most daring and eye-catching architectures of the 21st
of demolishing an existing building and constructing century. For several years, China has hosted a wide range
a new one. That may be true, but many older buildings of controversial structures including a ten-story building
still consume too much water and energy. That can be shaped like a teapot in Wuxi. The headquarters of China
turned around drastically by using LEED for Building Central Television was named the Best Tall Building
Operations and Maintenance (O+M). According to the Worldwide from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban
World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report, Habitat in 2013, yet some have called it“the big pants”due
only 19 percent of Chinese respondents expected to to its resemblance to a pair of trousers. Copies of famous
retrofit existing buildings by 2020 compared to the global Western landmarks such as the White House, the Eiffel
average of 37 percent. Mainland China has an enormous Tower and London Bridge dot the countryside as lower
opportunity to continue their sustainable leadership by tiered cities try to attract attention and create their own,
greening these existing structures. Two recent examples if not borrowed, identities (Myall). New York architect
of existing buildings that have been upgraded to achieve Steven Holl said in 2008, “In America, I could never do
LEED Platinum for O+M are the AZIA Center in Shanghai work like I do here. We’ve become too backward-looking.
and the Beijing International Finance Center (Xue). In China, they want to make everything look new. This
is their moment in time. They want to make the 21st
Green Architectural Design century their century” (Schwab).
One green sector with a significant foreign presence Liu Shilin, Head of the Institute of Urban Science at
in China is architectural design, which is dominated by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, disagreed, claiming some
many well-known architectural firms from the United city officials have spent huge amounts of taxpayers’
States and Europe. Other opportunities exist in consulting money on erecting impractical, strange- looking buildings
on green building designs, as well as on energy saving that failed to meet public or city needs. “These buildings
strategies for both new and old buildings. Both of these so not have much value in terms of use, and cost a lot
sectors require skills and expertise that are not yet fully to operate and maintain. Quite a few were torn down
developed in the Chinese domestic market and can help soon after completion,” Liu said. Like it or not, China’s
lower energy intensity in line with the 13th Five Year Plan. government has decided to put an end to the innovation
More than 95 percent of existing buildings in China are on display. Oddly shaped buildings will be forbidden,
not green buildings, creating potential opportunities in according to guidelines released by the Communist
retrofitting old buildings with green building technology Party’s Central Committee and the State Council (Gan
(China Construction). and Zhen). The process may have begun back in 2014
when Chinese President Xi Jinping started his crusade
Engineering and Design against strange architecture, saying art should “be like
sunshine from the blue sky and the breeze in spring that
Prior to its economic prosperity, classic Chinese will inspire minds, warm hearts, cultivate taste, and clean
architecture emphasized bilateral symmetry and up undesirable work styles.” Xi stressed that architecture
width rather than height for centuries. More recently, in China should appeal to the average Chinese citizens.
international architects have infused contemporary His sentiment hearkens back to late Chinese leader Mao
influence on cities and changed China’s skylines and Zedong’s idea that the working class in China should not
national landscape (Flamer). China’s economic boom only be the major audience for all art, but that it should
spawned massive urban renewal nationwide, including be a reflection of their everyday life (Bruner).
exceptional engineering, exotic skyscrapers, the world’s
longest and highest bridges, mega dams, and the best In a bid to tackle the problems associated with
Olympics ever in 2008. Ironically, two praised Olympic increasing urbanization and the explosion of city sizes,
structures—the Beijing National Stadium (a.k.a. the Bird’s the Communist Party of China Central Committee
Nest) and the Beijing National Aquatics Center (a.k.a. the decided to step in by releasing a guideline on urban
Water Cube pavilion) could easily be deemed “bizarre” to planning early in 2016. Cities would no longer be
180
Retrofitting some, but forbidding these magnificent structures would
have been a huge architectural loss—and an outrage.
A common phrase in the environmental industry is:
The greenest building is one that is already built. It can China has become well known for some of the
take 80 years to make up for the environmental impact most daring and eye-catching architectures of the 21st
of demolishing an existing building and constructing century. For several years, China has hosted a wide range
a new one. That may be true, but many older buildings of controversial structures including a ten-story building
still consume too much water and energy. That can be shaped like a teapot in Wuxi. The headquarters of China
turned around drastically by using LEED for Building Central Television was named the Best Tall Building
Operations and Maintenance (O+M). According to the Worldwide from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban
World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report, Habitat in 2013, yet some have called it“the big pants”due
only 19 percent of Chinese respondents expected to to its resemblance to a pair of trousers. Copies of famous
retrofit existing buildings by 2020 compared to the global Western landmarks such as the White House, the Eiffel
average of 37 percent. Mainland China has an enormous Tower and London Bridge dot the countryside as lower
opportunity to continue their sustainable leadership by tiered cities try to attract attention and create their own,
greening these existing structures. Two recent examples if not borrowed, identities (Myall). New York architect
of existing buildings that have been upgraded to achieve Steven Holl said in 2008, “In America, I could never do
LEED Platinum for O+M are the AZIA Center in Shanghai work like I do here. We’ve become too backward-looking.
and the Beijing International Finance Center (Xue). In China, they want to make everything look new. This
is their moment in time. They want to make the 21st
Green Architectural Design century their century” (Schwab).
One green sector with a significant foreign presence Liu Shilin, Head of the Institute of Urban Science at
in China is architectural design, which is dominated by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, disagreed, claiming some
many well-known architectural firms from the United city officials have spent huge amounts of taxpayers’
States and Europe. Other opportunities exist in consulting money on erecting impractical, strange- looking buildings
on green building designs, as well as on energy saving that failed to meet public or city needs. “These buildings
strategies for both new and old buildings. Both of these so not have much value in terms of use, and cost a lot
sectors require skills and expertise that are not yet fully to operate and maintain. Quite a few were torn down
developed in the Chinese domestic market and can help soon after completion,” Liu said. Like it or not, China’s
lower energy intensity in line with the 13th Five Year Plan. government has decided to put an end to the innovation
More than 95 percent of existing buildings in China are on display. Oddly shaped buildings will be forbidden,
not green buildings, creating potential opportunities in according to guidelines released by the Communist
retrofitting old buildings with green building technology Party’s Central Committee and the State Council (Gan
(China Construction). and Zhen). The process may have begun back in 2014
when Chinese President Xi Jinping started his crusade
Engineering and Design against strange architecture, saying art should “be like
sunshine from the blue sky and the breeze in spring that
Prior to its economic prosperity, classic Chinese will inspire minds, warm hearts, cultivate taste, and clean
architecture emphasized bilateral symmetry and up undesirable work styles.” Xi stressed that architecture
width rather than height for centuries. More recently, in China should appeal to the average Chinese citizens.
international architects have infused contemporary His sentiment hearkens back to late Chinese leader Mao
influence on cities and changed China’s skylines and Zedong’s idea that the working class in China should not
national landscape (Flamer). China’s economic boom only be the major audience for all art, but that it should
spawned massive urban renewal nationwide, including be a reflection of their everyday life (Bruner).
exceptional engineering, exotic skyscrapers, the world’s
longest and highest bridges, mega dams, and the best In a bid to tackle the problems associated with
Olympics ever in 2008. Ironically, two praised Olympic increasing urbanization and the explosion of city sizes,
structures—the Beijing National Stadium (a.k.a. the Bird’s the Communist Party of China Central Committee
Nest) and the Beijing National Aquatics Center (a.k.a. the decided to step in by releasing a guideline on urban
Water Cube pavilion) could easily be deemed “bizarre” to planning early in 2016. Cities would no longer be
180
